"Mother."

Violet sighted the Queen already seated, her posture the very picture of elegance.

"Sit, princess." Queen Seraphira gestured toward the seat opposite hers. The one Alaric had sat on.

"I want to make a request of you, Violet," the Queen said.

Violet’s heart immediately began to race.

She could already sense where this was headed.

Queen Seraphira began,

"If things do not go as planned—"

"Things will go as planned," Violet cut in at once, refusing to entertain the thought.

"If things do not work out," the Queen insisted, her purple eyes hardening.

The firmness in her tone, coupled with the austere look on her face, made Violet swallow the rest of the argument sitting at the tip of her tongue.

Holding Violet’s gaze now, the Queen said,

"If by chance I die tomorrow and Baron takes over, you are to leave this realm. Take your mates, get out, and never come back. Pretend this realm never existed. Do you understand?"

"Really?" Violet stared hard at her. "That’s the plan? If everything goes downhill, I’m supposed to run with my tail tucked between my legs?"

"I want you to survive, Violet!" Queen Seraphira cried out.

"How does that keep me safe, mother?!" Violet snapped. "If Baron wins tomorrow, whether I run to the human realm or even to hell, he will search for me until I’m dead because I still threaten him. Or did that not occur to you?!"

"I have a contingency plan," the Queen said quickly, seeing Violet was dangerously close to losing her patience. "I’ve already made arrangements. Once you and your mates are out, a barrier will be raised over the Free Fae. It would be like before. They would go back to living on their own."

"You’re going to isolate them again?" Violet’s face twisted in disgust.

"The Free Fae are not strangers to isolation," Queen Seraphira replied. "And this is for you, Violet."

"For fuck’s sake, stop saying this is for my sake!" Violet hissed, jerking to her feet. "And you wonder why Baron wants to rule? Because you, mother, are so stifling and controlling."

Queen Seraphira flinched, as if Violet had slapped her across the face.

Violet kept going.

"You always claim to be doing something, but in reality, you keep choosing the safest option and calling it protection."

She shook her head, a bitter laugh slipping out.

"You talk so much about your mother,

Queen Elawon, about how cruel and close-minded she was but you don’t even realize how much of her still lives in you."

Her eyes narrowed with intensity. "You didn’t break that cycle, mother. You only softened it." She gestured around. "You built this version of peace, this so-called perfect free Fae realm and instead of preparing your people for the reality of what they are capable of, you sheltered them."

Her voice rose in pitch, "Well, guess what? Just like humans, the Fae are capable of greed. Of ambition. Of destruction." She lowered her tone, "Even you."

Queen Seraphira went so still one would have mistaken her for a statue.

But Violet was not done. She stepped closer.

"You wanted to be loved so badly that you forgot what it means to be respected. Because even with everything Queen Elawon was, the Fae still followed her. They feared her, yes, but they respected her enough not to tear her down the moment she showed weakness."

Violet’s expression twisted.

"But you?" she said. "You gave them everything. Comfort. Freedom without consequence. And now they want more. Like greedy monsters, they’ve opened their jaws wide enough to swallow you whole and you want me to do what?" 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Violet cocked her head to the side.

"Run?" She waited a second. "Like you did eighteen years ago?"

"Violet." The Queen’s voice came out with an edge, carrying a warning not to drag that history into the open.

But Violet was far past caring.

"You had eighteen years to find me."

Seraphira sighed tiredly. "I tried, Violet. I already told you—"

"Did you try enough?" Violet challenged her. "Or perhaps you knew I would shake your grip on this perfect little realm of yours, and so even when Lila found me, you still refused to let her teach me magic."

"It was for your own good!" Queen Seraphira shouted, now rising to her feet. "Angus would have found you and—"

"My life was not yours to control!" Violet shouted back, the room echoing. "If you had given me a chance, I would have been able to stand against Angus with full control of my powers."

Her chest heaved.

"If you had given me a chance, I would already be a recognized heir and would not have to go through this ridiculous trial just to prove my capability."

She told her. "If you had given me a chance, I would already be Princess, and Baron would have no power whatsoever."

Queen Seraphira was left speechless because there was no refuting the truth of that.

Standing face to face with her mother, Violet said coldly, "You did this, mother. So you will clean up this mess."

She held Seraphira’s gaze, her voice steady.

"If you had the time to make a contingency plan for your death, surely you have enough power to keep yourself alive."

Then she delivered the final blow.

"So start acting like a Queen and not a coward."

She added immediately, "And when this is over, I’ll leave your kingdom and never return."

"What?"

That was the first time Seraphira’s face truly cracked.

But Violet had already begun to walk away when the Queen said, "But this is your kingdom too. You cannot deny that."

Violet stopped, then turned slowly.

She sneered. "And yet you would deny me that by locking me away."

Her smile was bitter.

"Yeah. Your hypocrisy is beginning to show, Your Majesty." The title was spoken politely.

Any maternal softness Violet had felt toward the Fae Queen was gone now.

She barely took another step before the Queen called after her again.

"Even if you do not want it, your descendants are still in direct line to my throne. They will have the choice, whether you like it or not."

Violet looked over her shoulder and said coolly, "At least they’d have the choice whether they want it or not."

Then she kept moving.

"Violet?" Queen Seraphira called after her.

But Violet did not stop.

"Violet, we can talk about this," the Queen pleaded. "It doesn’t have to be this way. We can work things out. I’m still your mother!"

That was what finally made Violet stop.

But she did not spare the Queen a single, saying from that position, "No, you’re not. You only lent me your womb. My real mother is in the human realm, waiting for me."

That truth hit Violet fully only now. Nancy had been the best version of a mother she could have ever had. Nancy, with all her flaws, had bled and fought hard for her.

But Seraphira?

The fae queen had stayed hidden in the safety of her realm, consumed by the very problems she had created for herself, and left Violet to her fate. Her biological mother would not even fight hard enough to stay alive so they could have time together.

No. She would rather die and lose to the enemy than fight to remain and claim her daughter fully.

Perhaps Violet too had been deluded all this time. Thinking that once she found her biological mother, everything would somehow become perfect.

That they would make up for lost time and create some beautiful, impossible version of family. Something better than the hard, ugly, but real life she had shared with Nancy in District One.

Unfortunately, reality slapped her across the face this time. In the end, family was not always blood, but the people willing to go to the ends of the earth for you. The ones who stayed behind when things turned ugly.

With new determination hardening inside her, Violet reached the door and stepped out.